Blizzard Rams New England. 1978 Pulitzer Prize, Feature Photography, Staff Photographers of Boston Herald American. The lighthouse is 114 feet high, which means that foam is spraying 100 feet into the air, propelled upward by a raging sea that sinks ships and floods towns up and down the coast.It is Feb. 8, 1978. A blizzard has rammed New England, shutting down roads, businesses and schools. Snow buries everything. Nothing moves. Kevin Cole, chief photographer at The Boston Herald American, is stuck in Plymouth, Mass. “The snow was over the house. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Determined to cover the storm, Cole heads for the Hyannis airport. “I found this place called Discover Flying School. The wind was blowing. The pilot said ‘You’re crazy, nobody’s going up.'”Before long, they are airborne. “It was this little, tiny plane. We took off. The whole coastline was gone, houses in the water, houses floating, waves crashing inside them. About two miles out, I saw Minot Light.”In the raging wind, they circle the lighthouse. The pilot tells Cole, “We can’t stay out here any longer.’ Just as he started to turn, I saw a huge wave. That’s when I got that shot, and that’s the same time I threw up.”Other Herald American photographers fan out around the region, photographing the blizzard’s destruction: Villages buried in freezing flood waters, commuters trapped in snow-covered cars. The newspaper publishes a special section, which chronicles the worst New England storm in 200 years—54 dead, 10,000 homeless and evacuated. Photo #3 by Staff Photographers of Boston Herald American via cliff1066™

Aftermath of the Winter Storm: The photographer described this photo as, “30 foot tall outer light of the St. Joseph, Michigan after a severe winter storm. Waves on Lake Michigan were said to be over 20 feet high, which pounded the lighthouse and covered it in ice feet thick in places. Workers were just finishing up a paint job when the storm hit. The scaffold was demolished and is also covered in a thick layer of ice.”“The walk to the lighthouse was treacherous- the pier is also covered in a layer of ice. Most of the way was slow going, but the walk next to the inner light was the most difficult. There is only a path about 20 inches wide with the lighthouse to your left, and the frigid lake to your right. I managed to carefully negotiate the path and make it out to the outer light. In hindsight, I’m lucky I didn’t go for an unexpected winter swim.” Photo #6 by Tom Gill

Ice Drapery: Ice formed on the St. Joseph, Michigan lighthouse and catwalk during a winter storm that churned up Lake Michigan and created 20 foot waves. The ice apparently broke the “hand rail” cables on the catwalk, and they are now drooping down with tons of ice. Photo #7 by Tom Gill

South Haven Pier. Gale force winds pound the South Haven, Michigan lighthouse and pier during a two day storm. Gusts of over 50 miles per hour created 16 to 20 foot waves in open water. Photo #10 by Tom Gill

Winds 30-40, gusts to 55, mid lake waves at 17-22 ft, very impressive storm. This was taken from the beach at Frankfort Michigan. The lighthouse in the photo is 76 ft tall. Photo #12 by Jim Sorbie

Gale force winds throughout the day churned up Lake Michigan and created high waves along the South Haven, Michigan shore. The lighthouse tower is 35 feet tall (from the pier) another six feet to the water – making that splash around 50 feet tall. Photo #13 by Nwardez

Gale force winds throughout the day churned up Lake Michigan and created high waves along the South Haven, Michigan shore. The lighthouse tower is 35 feet tall (from the pier) another six feet to the water – making that splash around 50 feet tall. Photo #23 by Tom Gill

Hide and Seek … Today’s puzzle – try to find the pier hidden in this picture. Hint: the glimpse of the lighthouse may be a clue. Photo #24 by Mrs Logic

Okay, not waves attacking in a power struggle against man-made lighthouses, but this shot was creepy cool. The photographer called it Sea Point Storm and wrote, “Pity that this came out blurred, but I was running at the time. Foam monster attacking the public.” Photo #28 by mallix

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I was born and raised in St. Joseph Michigan and was so used to playing in and around Lake Michigan that I didn’t really appreciate it. Now I am retired in Kalamazoo and miss the big lake. My parents and us kids would pack a lunch on Saturday, in the summer, and go fish for perch off of the piers. We spent most of the day out there and usually had sunburned noses! Then we had fun at the Silver Beach Amusement Park right next to the South Pier. Oh the memories of the big lake!!!

Our family lived in St. Joesph MI for fifty years. When I first became aware of the lighthouse, it was periodically issuing a very deep BEE-OOPS when conditions were foggy or troublesome. I liked the sound of it because I knew it was assisting boaters who might not have a very good vision of where the entrance to the St. Joseph River was or where the shoreline was. Later on, that sound was replaced by an electronic BEEP. I didn’t like that as well but it was accomplishing the same purpose so it was okay. Now, I believe, the lighthouse gives off no sound at all since devices aboard boats make that unnecessary. The lighthouse was a delight but it was also sort of a legal “attractive nuisance”. Neighbors lost children who didn’t respect the power of the waves and the danger of being out on the end of the pier and dodging the water. Our daughters were permitted to go to the beach without supervision at age 12 but that didn’t mean I didn’t think about how much fun it was to be out on the north pier and hope they would keep their wits about them. One day, Tom Bensen dropped by and we chatted about how he was going to go to maritime school after graduation and sail the great lakes. My love to Tom–still aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I was a crewman on USCG Light Station Ambrose during 1984/85. These great images remind
me of the Atlantic Ocean storms that rocked my Station. We were a Lighthouse built like
an Oil Rig type platform located about 10 miles out to sea, south of Brooklyn , NY.
Waves would hit the ocean catwalks so hard the structure vibrated like a tuning fork.

My Dad was stationed in Oswego from 1948-1953. [Photo #8] Hard to believe that I used to row
out to the Oswego Lighthouse in a 12 foot flat bottomed skiff, more times than I like to
think about. It was about a mile or better out there. I was about 13 or 14 at the time.
I’ve seen Dad and a crew go out in storms, and when they passed the harbor entrance, in
a 36 foot lifeboat, the waves would oftentimes make them invisible. Lawrence Outten,
March 15th [Dad’s Birthday] 10:25 p.m.

I have lived most of my life on the western side the lower peninsula of Michigan and have walked most of these Michigan lighthouses. I even took my GPS from the jeep to the end of the Muskegon breakwall and marked that spot. When I got back to the parking lot it appeared I “walked on water” to get to the lighthouse lol.
The November and December storms coming into Ludington were a good reason to take a ride to the beach and watch the power of nature crash into and over both the north and south breakwalls. What memories these pictures bring back!
And they say the surfing sucks in the Great Lakes…

I was a lighthouse keeper in New Zealand for eight years – Moko Hinau, Tiritiri, and Nugget Point.
We often had bad, sometimes very severe weather, and even though the towers were high above the sea, the spray still sometimes reached them. And the wind! On a couple of occasions I actually had to crawl to reach the tower. Nevertheless, the best years of my life – actually wrote a book about it – As Darker Grows the Night.

Why aren’t there any picts. of Manistique, MI’s lighthouses or the Seul Choix point lighthouse in Gulliver, MI ?? Their on Lake Michigan in the UP’s Manistique area and also are very beautiful in any weather!! Living there for 10 years and now living in the dessert makes me miss the water!!

It all depends upon what photos are licensed under creative commons, on the time factors of going through hundreds upon hundreds of photos so the viewers will hopefully be pleased, and that also includes the time to hunt for copyright image photographers contact info and if they respond before publishing that yes we can show off their photos with a link back to them. Although many sites do it, we don’t want to snag and ‘steal’ copyright photos without permission. Those photos are the property of photographers.